Speakers

Dawn Bedlivy

Ms. Dawn V. Bedlivy, Esq. serves as the Chief, Office of Innovation in the National Security Agency's Research Directorate.

Ryan Benitez

Ryan leads business operations and strategy for Decisive Point's early-stage portfolio of startups.

Hannah

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Dr. Daniel Biene

Daniel is a member of the German Army Reserve and serves on the Leadership & Strategy Team of the German Armed Forces Innovation Hub.

Katherine Brownson

Katherine is the CEO of a Venture Capital Fund focused on dual-use technology to drive defense innovation.

Lead Innovator on Quantum Technologies

Technical lead within the Quantum Co-ordination Office which works across National Security to develop knowledge and capability on emerging quantum technologies.

Eveline Buchatskiy

Eveline Buchatskiy has 10+ years of experience working with fast-growing startups.

Mike Butcher MBE

Mike Butcher has been named one of the most influential journalists in European technology by several newspapers and magazines, including Wired.

Innovation Leader in National Security

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Ben Colman

Ben Colman is CEO and Co-Founder of Reality Defender (realitydefender.com), the leading deepfake detection platform helping enterprises flag fraudulent users and content.

Blythe Crawford CBE

Air Commodore Crawford is the Commandant of the Air and Space Warfare Centre.

Jeff Crusey

Jeff is a former founder and deep tech VC in the US and UK/EU.

Caroline Daniel

Caroline Daniel is a partner in the London office, advising clients on strategic communications challenges, ranging from major crises, critical issues, technology IPOs to ongoing corporate reputation building.

Catherine Day

Catherine is a British Civil Servant currently serving in the Cabinet Office at the UK government’s Joint Data and Analysis Centre.

Sir Chris Deverell

Sir Chris Deverell had a 40 year career in the British Army, culminating in the rank of full General (4*).

Dr. Rich Drake

Rich Drake is the General Manager of Anduril Industries UK, a defence technology business specialising in robotics and AI.

Carlos Espinal

Carlos is Managing Partner at Seedcamp, the leading European seed fund launched in 2007 with a belief that European entrepreneurs have the power to compete on a global scale.

Darrell Etherington

Darrell Etherington is a distinguished technology journalist with an extensive background in reporting on innovative tech trends and emerging sectors.

Karl Eze

Karl Eze is CEO of Point-Zenith, delivering on contracts to the UK MOD and Defence Industry clients on drones.

Mikolaj Firlej

Dr Mikolaj Firlej is a co-founder and General Partner at Expeditions Fund, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage defence and dual-use companies building the future of security in Europe.

Jeannette zu Fürstenberg

Dr. Jeannette zu Fürstenberg is Managing Director of the global VC firm General Catalyst (GC) and Founding Partner of La Famiglia VC.

Tom Garnett

Tom is the Co-Founder and CEO of company currently in stealth.

Dr. Melanie Garson

Dr. Melanie Garson is the Cyber Policy and Tech Geopolitics Lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

Arun Gupta

Arun Gupta, CEO of NobleReach, is a venture capitalist and is active in the emerging technology, entrepreneurship, public policy, and venture finance communities.

Robert Harper MBE

Rob Harper founded Rowden in 2016, and today it is one of the UK's fastest growing businesses.

Kweilen Hatleskog

Kweilen Hatleskog is a Partner at PA Consulting and a Board Director at Logpoint.

Dr. Alison Hawks

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Khaled Helioui

Khaled is a partner at Plural, the early-stage investment fund that backs the most ambitious founders on a mission to change the world through technology.

Jyoti Hirani-Driver

Jyoti Hirani-Driver has been the Chief Operating Officer of NATO DIANA since January 2024, and is responsible for overseeing the Accelerator Programme, establishing business performance and risk management, and identifying and implementing improvements across the organisation.

Leah Hodgson

Leah Hodgson is a London-based senior reporter for PitchBook covering venture capital across Europe and the Middle East.

Lt. Gen. Scott Howell

Lieutenant General Scott Howell retired from the United States Air Force in August 2021 after a 34- year career, and he is now an advisor for General Catalyst.

Kevin Hurlburtt

Kevin Hurlbutt, PhD, is an electrochemical engineer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer and cofounder at Project K Energy, Inc.

Hugo Jammes

Current Managing Partner and Head of Investment at NSSIF- investing to enhance and advance the UK and Allies national security and defence capabilities.

Shashank Joshi

Shashank Joshi is Defence Editor at The Economist, where he covers a wide range of military and security issues including war, nuclear weapons, intelligence and cyber security.

Jeremy Kahn

Jeremy Kahn is an award-winning journalist and the author of Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future.

Paul Kwan

Paul is a managing director at General Catalyst, a full-stack venture capital firm whose mission is to invest in powerful, positive change that endures and with an intentional focus on responsible innovation.

Srdjan Kovacevic

Srdjan is a Co-Founder and CEO at Orqa, World's #1 First Person View (FPV) video headset company.

Alexa Liautaud

Alexa Liautaud is an investor at General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that partners with founders from seed through growth stages and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time.

H. E. Mr Viljar Lubi

Since 2021, Mr Lubi has been the Ambassador of Estonia to the United Kingdom.

Jonathan Luff

Jonathan is the Chief of Staff and Chief of Global Affairs at Recorded Future.

Ingrid Lunden

Ingrid has been writing about technology and how it intersects with our world for more than 20 years.

Dr. Chris Magazzeni

Chris is an investor at IQ Capital with a focus on Aerospace & Defence, and Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the UK Defence Investor Network.

Nabil Ben Mahdi

Nabil Ben Mahdi is the European Investment Fund's Business Development Manager focusing on niche thematics.

Iain Martin

Iain Martin is a senior editor with Forbes and covers startups, tech and venture capital.

Nathan Michael

Nathan Michael is Shield AI’s Chief Technology Officer and a former Associate Research Professor in the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

Prof. Ashley Montanaro

Ashley cofounded Phasecraft with Toby Cubitt and John Morton to develop breakthrough quantum algorithms to get the most out of near-term quantum computers.

Boyd Multerer

Boyd Multerer, is the CEO/CTO and driving force behind Kry10.

Dame Fiona Murray

Professor Dame Fiona Murray CBE DCMG is the Associate Dean of Innovation at the MIT School of Management and William Porter (1967) Professor of Entrepreneurship.

Rob Murray

Rob doesn’t believe in no-win situations - He’s built a career working alongside incredible people to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Nicholas Nelson

Experienced aerospace, defence, and national security operator with 17 years sector experience across intelligence, defence, and venture capital.

Matt O'Connell

Matt focuses on helping companies in the defense, intelligence and space industries grow through strategic advice and introductions.

Angela Owen OBE

Angela’s Army career spanned 30 years and included tours in the UK, Germany and NI during the ‘Troubles’.

Jason Pontin

Jason is a member of DCVC’s investment team and leads the firm’s commu­ni­ca­tors as they tell the stories of portfolio companies.

John Ridge CBE

Brigadier John Ridge CBE is the Director of Defence Innovation at the Ministry of Defence.

Sir Matthew Rycroft

Sir Matthew Rycroft KCMG CBE is the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office.

Alex Schmitt

Alexander joined Lightspeed’s European investment team in 2022 and is primarily focused on making investments in the B2B and FinTech sectors.

Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky

Patrick leads investments in CEE and capacity and ecosystem building at the NATO Innovation Fund.

Andrew J Scott

Serial entrepreneur turned Founding Partner 7percent Ventures, investing in pre/seed hardware deeptech and transformative software startups for >10 years.

Kadi Silde

Kadi Silde is the Chief Development Officer at Starburst Aerospace

Senior Representative

NCSC supports the most critical organisations in the UK, the wider public sector, industry, SMEs and the general public.

Dr. Gundbert Scherf

Dr. Gundbert Scherf is the co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, a deep tech company in the security and defence sector.

Vijay Sekhara

Vijay serves as the Program Director for ScaleWolf, an accelerator and venture capital fund based out of Lithuania that supports dual-use startups aligned with NATO emerging and disruptive technologies with strategic partnerships, customer discovery, and investment opportunities.

Ash Sharma

Ash is a senior analyst at McKinsey & Company within the Aerospace & Defense practice, where she leverages her broad expertise across the space value chain to specialize in space strategy/due diligence and defense prime operations.

Danielle Sheridan

After five years she moved to The Daily Telegraph, Danielle Sheridan becoming a political journalist, most recently covering Defence full time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Nicola Sinclair

Nicola is the General Partner of Twin Track Ventures, a London-based pre-seed and seed deeptech fund focused on dual-use technologies.

Jacqueline Tame

Jacqueline is an Operating Partner at Playground Global, an early-stage, deep tech venture capital firm, where she is responsible for educating and advising Playground and its Portfolio Companies on international, national, and state government policy and helping craft strategies on non-dilutive funding pathways, dual-use market opportunities, and regulatory positioning.

Jaanus Tamm

Jaanus Tamm is a technology enthusiast with a long term (15 years) experiences in the tech and defence industry.

Josh Thomas

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John Thornhill

John Thornhill is the Innovation Editor at the Financial Times writing an award-winning weekly column on the impact of technology.

Eric Traupe

Eric is a former public sector senior executive with 30+ years of combined experience in the CIA and the US Marine Corps.

Duncan Turner

Duncan is a General Partner at SOSV, and the Global Managing Director of HAX, the world’s first and largest VC-backed program for hard tech, based in Newark, NJ.

General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO ADC Gen

General Sir Roly Walker is the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army.

Jack Wang

Jack is a deep-tech investor and leads the European Resilience focus at Project A Ventures. Project A is a pan-European VC and early backers in European DefenceTech start-ups like Quantum Systems, ARX Robotics and Labrys Technologies.

Tom Whipple

Tom Whipple is the science editor at The Times.

Clayton Williams

Clayton Williams is the Managing Director of IQT International UK Ltd., where he manages IQT’s relationship with the UK government and is responsible for identifying, investing, and guiding IQT’s portfolio of deep tech start-up technology across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

George Williamson

George Williamson, CEO of HMGCC, the engineering specialists at the heart of the UK's National Security

Dr. Ilana Wisby

Dr. Ilana Wisby is a deep tech entrepreneur, executive, speaker, advisor, and champion for D&I in technology and leadership.

Viktoriia Yaremchuk

Viktoriia Yaremchuk is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, researcher (PhD), startup founder, manager with the experience in various markets and cross-cultural communication.